After I Get Home from the Hospital, What Happens Next?

Posted December 18, 2018

In Commercial Trucking Accidents, Personal Injury, Trucking Accident

When your truck wreck-related injuries require a lengthy hospitalization, you’ll probably yearn for the comforts of home throughout your hospital stay. When the hospital finally discharges you, it’s an important milestone in your recovery, but there’s still plenty of work to do.

Keep reading for information and advice that can help you successfully transition home and navigate the many challenges that follow a devastating truck crash and hospitalization.

Home May Not Be Your First Destination After the Hospital

There are two kinds of hospitals:

Acute or “regular” hospitals: These facilities treat severe injuries, serious illnesses, and any other type of trauma that requires intensive medical treatment.
Rehabilitation hospitals: These types of facilities help rebuild truck wreck victims’ strength and physical abilities once their medical condition becomes stable.

After a catastrophic truck wreck, you might need significant rehabilitation and nursing care before you go home. In these cases, you won’t stay in the hospital forever. Instead, they’ll discharge you to a rehabilitation facility that will help rebuild your strength, coordination, and movement abilities.

At the rehabilitation hospital, you’ll participate in multiple therapy sessions each day. These sessions may include physical, occupational, speech, and other therapies. You’ll probably feel physically and emotionally exhausted at times. However, don’t give up — your commitment to rehab can impact your results.

Even after leaving the rehabilitation hospital, you might not go straight home. If your residence can’t accommodate your needs, you may have to stay with friends and family for a while. For example, if you need to use a walker or a wheelchair, a second-story walk-up apartment can’t provide a safe place for you to live.

Building a Home Care Plan After a Truck Accident

Making your home safe and suitable for your needs after a truck wreck will require significant planning. Before you leave the hospital, you should take a critical and honest look at your housing situation, your current abilities, and your needs.

Your home care plan might involve:

Accommodations to your home, such as ramps, a hospital bed, shower chairs, and grab bars in the bathroom
Attendant care services to help with your cooking, cleaning, and other chores
Home health services if you need help with bathing, using the bathroom, and other personal matters
Transportation to and from appointments
Medication and appointment reminders
Fall prevention systems and emergency call buttons

Some companies can help you coordinate these needs for a cost. Sometimes, a medical professional will tour your home before you leave the hospital and make recommendations. You can also ask friends and family to help you while you transition home.

However, you’ll need to be realistic with your expectations and planning. If you stayed in the hospital for a long time and have ongoing limitations, these issues won’t just disappear when you arrive home. You should take every precaution to ensure your health and safety, and don’t hesitate to ask for help when you need it.

You Still Have a Long Recovery Ahead of You

While leaving the hospital is an important and long-awaited step, it doesn’t mean that your schedule of doctor and therapy appointments is going to slow down. You’ll still need to see your providers regularly to track your improvement and build your strength. Over time, you’ll hopefully have to see your doctors less.

Even if it’s exhausting at times, you need to attend every doctor’s appointment and follow all the restrictions your doctors give you. If you push yourself too much, you might aggravate your injuries and cause a setback or unwanted complications.

Consider Adding a Truck Wreck Lawyer to Your Team

Your physical and emotional recovery should remain your number one priority, but you shouldn’t ignore the financial losses the truck driver and their employer inflicted on you. A serious truck crash can lead to a lifetime of medical care, lost income, and other damages. While money may not seem important right now, stress over finances can eventually affect your mood, outlook, determination, and even your physical health.

However, you only have a limited amount of time to pursue your legal claims after a truck wreck. Because so much is at stake, it’s in your best interest to consult an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible.

At Truck Wreck Justice, we focus our practice on handling complex truck crash cases. We work closely with our clients, investigating their claims, negotiating with insurance companies, and demanding fair compensation for their injuries. We know from working with truck wreck victims how challenging their recoveries are, and we strive to provide emotional support and peace of mind while fighting aggressively for justice on their behalf.

Truck Wreck Justice: Fighting for Truck Accident Victims in Washington State

If you’ve suffered injuries in a truck wreck or your loved one is hurt and requires extensive care, you probably don’t have the time, energy, or resources required to gather evidence, investigate the complex causes of a crash, and build your personal injury claim. To make sure your rights are protected and important evidence is preserved, you should contact Truck Wreck Justice and schedule your consultation with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible.

Please call us at (866) 580-HURT (4878) or fill out our quick online contact form if you need help. We offer free initial consultations to assess your situation and discuss your legal options, and we handle cases on a contingent fee basis, which means that you won’t pay attorney’s fees unless we help you and your family receive compensation through a settlement or verdict.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.

Truck accident, truck accident lawyer